Plants and seeds of sorghum variety GSV864306

ABSTRACT

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the sorghum variety designated GSV864306. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety GSV864306, and to methods for producing a sorghum plant produced by crossing a sorghum plant of variety GSV864306 with itself or with another sorghum plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to sorghum seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety GSV864306 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety GSV864306.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a new sorghum line,designated GSV864306, as well as to seed, plants, cultivars, and hybridsrelated thereto. The invention also relates to methods for producingsorghum seeds and plants from GSV864306.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides a sorghum plant of thevariety designated GSV864306. Also provided are sorghum plants havingall of the morphological and physiological characteristics of the inbredsorghum variety GSV864306. The inbred sorghum plant of the invention mayfurther comprise, or have, a cytoplasmic or nuclear factor that iscapable of conferring male sterility or otherwise preventingself-pollination, such as by self-incompatibility. Parts of the sorghumplant of the present invention are also provided, for example, pollenobtained from an inbred plant and an ovule of the inbred plant.

The invention also concerns seed of the inbred sorghum varietyGSV864306. The inbred sorghum seed of the invention may be provided asan essentially homogeneous population of inbred sorghum seed of thevariety designated GSV864306. Essentially homogeneous populations ofinbred seed are generally free from substantial numbers of other seed.Therefore, in the practice of the present invention, inbred seedgenerally forms at least about 97% of the total seed. The population ofinbred sorghum seed of the invention may be particularly defined asbeing essentially free from hybrid seed. The inbred seed population maybe separately grown to provide an essentially homogeneous population ofinbred sorghum plants designated GSV864306.

In a further aspect of the invention, a composition is providedcomprising a seed of sorghum variety GSV864306 comprised in plant seedgrowth media. In certain embodiments, the plant seed growth media is asoil or synthetic cultivation medium. In specific embodiments, thegrowth medium may be comprised in a container or may, for example, besoil in a field.

In another aspect of the invention, a plant of sorghum variety GSV864306comprising an added heritable trait is provided. The heritable trait maycomprise a genetic locus that is a dominant or recessive allele. In oneembodiment of the invention, a plant of sorghum variety GSV864306further comprising a single locus conversion in particular is provided.In specific embodiments of the invention, an added genetic locus confersone or more traits such as, for example, male sterility, herbicidetolerance, insect resistance, disease resistance, waxy starch, modifiedfatty acid metabolism, modified phytic acid metabolism, modifiedcarbohydrate metabolism and modified protein metabolism. The trait maybe, for example, conferred by a naturally occurring sorghum geneintroduced into the genome of the variety by backcrossing, a natural orinduced mutation, or a transgene introduced through genetictransformation techniques. When introduced through transformation, agenetic locus may comprise one or more transgenes integrated at a singlechromosomal location.

In yet another aspect of the invention, an inbred sorghum plant of thevariety designated GSV864306 is provided, wherein acytoplasmically-inherited trait has been introduced into said inbredplant. Such cytoplasmically-inherited traits are passed to progenythrough the female parent in a particular cross. An exemplarycytoplasmically-inherited trait is the male sterility trait.Cytoplasmic-male sterility (CMS) is a pollen abortion phenomenondetermined by the interaction between the genes in the cytoplasm and thenucleus. Alteration in the mitochondrial genome and the lack of restorergenes in the nucleus will lead to pollen abortion. With either a normalcytoplasm or the presence of restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, the plantwill produce pollen normally. A CMS plant can be pollinated by amaintainer version of the same variety, which has a normal cytoplasm butlacks the restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, and continue to be malesterile in the next generation. The male fertility of a CMS plant can berestored by a restorer version of the same variety, which must have therestorer gene(s) in the nucleus. With the restorer gene(s) in thenucleus, the offspring of the male-sterile plant can produce normalpollen grains and propagate. A cytoplasmically inherited trait may be anaturally occurring sorghum trait or a trait introduced through genetictransformation techniques.

In another aspect of the invention, a tissue culture of regenerablecells of a plant of variety GSV864306 is provided. The tissue culturewill preferably be capable of regenerating plants capable of expressingall of the morphological and physiological characteristics of thevariety, and of regenerating plants having substantially the samegenotype as other plants of the variety. Examples of some of themorphological and physiological characteristics that may be assessedinclude characteristics related to yield, maturity, and nutritionalquality. The regenerable cells in such tissue cultures will preferablybe derived from embryos, meristematic cells, microspores, pollen,anthers, stigma, flowers, leaves, stalks, roots, root tips, seeds, orfrom callus or protoplasts derived from those tissues. Still further,the present invention provides sorghum plants regenerated from thetissue cultures of the invention, the plants having all of themorphological and physiological characteristics of variety GSV864306.

In yet another aspect of the invention, processes are provided forproducing sorghum seeds or plants, which processes generally comprisecrossing a first parent sorghum plant as a male or female parent with asecond parent sorghum plant, wherein at least one of the first or secondparent sorghum plants is a plant of the variety designated GSV864306.These processes may be further exemplified as processes for preparinghybrid sorghum seed or plants, wherein a first inbred sorghum plant iscrossed with a second sorghum plant of a different, distinct variety toprovide a hybrid that has, as one of its parents, the inbred sorghumplant variety GSV864306. In these processes, crossing will result in theproduction of seed. The seed production occurs regardless of whether theseed is collected or not.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first step in “crossing”comprises planting, preferably in pollinating proximity, seeds of afirst and second parent sorghum plant, and preferably, seeds of a firstinbred sorghum plant and a second, distinct inbred sorghum plant. Wherethe plants are not in pollinating proximity, pollination cannevertheless be accomplished by mechanically or naturally transferring apollen.

A second step comprises cultivating or growing the seeds of said firstand second parent sorghum plants into plants that bear flowers (sorghumbears both male and female flowers on the same anatomical structures onthe same plant). A third step comprises preventing self-pollination ofthe plants, i.e., preventing the female flowers of a plant from beingfertilized by any plant of the same variety, including the same plant.This is preferably done by emasculating the male flowers of the first orsecond parent sorghum plant, (i.e., physically removing the anthers fromthe florets prior to blooming of the flowers so as to prevent pollenproduction or preventing dehiscence of pollen from anthers byintroduction and maintenance of a high humidity environment by bagging apanicle or portion of a panicle with a plastic bag prior to blooming).Self-incompatibility systems may also be used in some hybrid crops forthe same purpose. Self-incompatible plants still shed viable pollen andcan pollinate plants of other varieties but are incapable of pollinatingthemselves or other plants of the same variety.

The present invention also provides sorghum seed and plants produced bya process that comprises crossing a first parent sorghum plant with asecond parent sorghum plant, wherein at least one of the first or secondparent sorghum plants is a plant of the variety designated GSV864306. Inone embodiment of the invention, sorghum seed and plants produced by theprocess are first generation (F₁) hybrid sorghum seed and plantsproduced by crossing an inbred in accordance with the invention withanother, distinct inbred. The present invention further contemplatesseed of an F₁ hybrid sorghum plant. Therefore, certain exemplaryembodiments of the invention provide an F₁ hybrid sorghum plant and seedthereof.

In still yet another aspect of the invention, the genetic complement ofthe sorghum plant variety designated GSV864306 is provided. The phrase“genetic complement” is used to refer to the aggregate of nucleotidesequences, the expression of which sequences defines the phenotype of,in the present case, a sorghum plant, or a cell or tissue of that plant.A genetic complement thus represents the genetic makeup of an inbredcell, tissue or plant, and a hybrid genetic complement represents thegenetic makeup of a hybrid cell, tissue or plant. The invention thusprovides sorghum plant cells that have a genetic complement inaccordance with the inbred sorghum plant cells disclosed herein, andplants, seeds and diploid plants containing such cells.

Plant genetic complements may be assessed by genetic marker profiles,and by the expression of phenotypic traits that are characteristic ofthe expression of the genetic complement, e.g., isozyme typing profiles.It is understood that variety GSV864306 could be identified by any ofthe many well known techniques such as, for example, Simple SequenceLength Polymorphisms (SSLPs) (Williams et al., Nucleic Acids Res.,18:6531-6535, 1990), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), DNAAmplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized AmplifiedRegions (SCARs), Arbitrary Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR),Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs) (EP 534 858,specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), andSingle Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) (Wang et al., Science,280:1077-1082, 1998).

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides hybridgenetic complements, as represented by sorghum plant cells, tissues,plants, and seeds, formed by the combination of a haploid geneticcomplement of a sorghum plant of the invention with a haploid geneticcomplement of the same or a different variety. In another aspect, thepresent invention provides a sorghum plant regenerated from a tissueculture that comprises a hybrid genetic complement of this invention.

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method ofproducing an inbred sorghum plant derived from the sorghum varietyGSV864306, the method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a progenyplant derived from sorghum variety GSV864306, wherein said preparingcomprises crossing a plant of the sorghum variety GSV864306 with asecond sorghum plant; (b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or asecond plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequentgeneration; (c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation fromsaid seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation and crossing theprogeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a second plant;and (d) repeating the steps for an additional 3-10 generations toproduce an inbred sorghum plant derived from the sorghum varietyGSV864306. In the method, it may be desirable to select particularplants resulting from step (c) for continued crossing according to steps(b) and (c). By selecting plants having one or more desirable traits, aninbred sorghum plant derived from the sorghum variety GSV864306 isobtained which possesses some of the desirable traits of sorghum varietyGSV864306 as well as potentially other selected traits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following definitions apply to the terms used herein:

The characteristic level of a trait that is presented as a rating isindicated or measured using the following 1 through 9 rating scale: 1 to2 indicates excellent, 3 to 4 indicates very good, 5 to 6 indicatesgood, 7 to 8 indicates fair, and 9 indicates poor. This scale is usedfor all traits unless specifically indicated otherwise.

Agronomic Rating. Agronomic rating is a composite rating whereconsideration is given to all agronomic characteristics that are inevidence at the location where the rating is made.

Allele. An allele is a variant of a DNA sequence at a given locus.

Alter. The term alter or alteration refers to the utilization ofup-regulation, down-regulation, or gene silencing.

Anther Color. Anther color is a description of the color of the antherson the day they are shedding pollen. The color is generally described asyellow, red, or mottled but other colors and descriptions are possible.

Anthocyanin Presence. Anthocyanin presence will be indicated by purpleor red coloration in the stalk and leaves, particularly where damage totissue has occurred. Anthocyanin presence is indicated as present or notpresent.

Awns. Awns are bristles arising from a spikelet part. Some lines have avery small awn, called a tip awn. Awn presence is indicated as presentor not present.

Backcrossing. Backcrossing is a process in which a breeder repeatedlycrosses hybrid progeny back to one of the parents. For example, a firstgeneration hybrid F₁ may be crossed with one of the parental genotypesof the F₁ hybrid.

Barren Plants. Plants that are barren are those that lack a head withgrain or that have only a few seeds.

Bloom 10%. Bloom 10% refers to the number of days from planting to whena line in a nursery row or field has completed 10% of the bloomingprocess.

Bloom 50%. Bloom 50% refers to the number of days from planting to whena line in a nursery row or field has completed 50% of the bloomingprocess.

Bloom 90%. Bloom 90% refers to the number of days from planting to whena line in a nursery row or field has completed 90% of the bloomingprocess.

Cell. Cell, as used herein, includes a plant cell, whether isolated, intissue culture, or incorporated into a plant or plant part.

Charcoal Rot Resistance. Charcoal rot resistance refers to a visualrating of a variety's resistance to Charcoal Rot disease.

Chinch Bug Resistance. Chinch bug resistance refers to a visual ratingof the sorghum plant's ability to grow normally when infested with alarge number of chinch bugs.

Color Intensity Score. Color Intensity score is a rating of theintensity and brightness of color for a particular variety.

Days to Flower. Days to flower refers to the predicted number of days,measured from the time of planting, required for flowers of a variety tobloom. Days to flower for the same variety may vary depending on theenvironment in which it is grown.

Days to Harvest. Days to harvest refers to the predicted number of days,measured from the time of planting, required for a variety to be readyfor harvest. Days to harvest for the same variety may vary depending onthe environment in which it is grown.

Downy Mildew Resistance. Downy mildew resistance refers to a visualrating of a variety's resistance to races 1, 3, and/or 6 of DownyMildew, a fungal disease that infects sorghum plants.

Endosperm Color. Endosperm color is described as white or yellow.

Endosperm Texture. Endosperm Texture is described as vitreous, floury,or intermediate.

Elite Sorghum Hybrid. An elite sorghum hybrid is a sorghum hybrid whichhas been sold commercially.

Elite Sorghum Parent Line. An elite sorghum line is a sorghum line whichis the parent line of a sorghum hybrid which has been sold commercially.

Embryo. The embryo is the small plant contained within a mature seed.

Essentially all of the physiological and morphological characteristics.This phrase refers to a plant having essentially all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of the referenced plantor variety, as determined at a 5% significance level for quantitativedata.

Fusarium Head Blight Resistance*. Fusarium Head Blight Resistance refersto a visual rating of a variety's resistance to Fusarium Head Blightdisease, which is caused by Fusarium moniliforme Sheld.

Gene. As used herein, gene refers to a segment of nucleic acid. A genecan be introduced into a genome of a species, whether from a differentspecies or from the same species, using transformation or variousbreeding methods.

Genetic Complement. The phrase genetic complement is used to refer tothe aggregate of nucleotide sequences, the expression of which sequencesdefines the phenotype of a plant, or a cell or tissue of that plant.

Gene Silencing. Gene silencing means the interruption or suppression ofthe expression of a gene at the level of transcription or translation.

Genotype. Genotype refers to the genetic constitution of a cell ororganism.

Glume Color. The glume refers to one of a pair of empty scales at thebase of a spikelet. Glume color is described as tan, mahogany, red,purple, or black.

Grain Set Under Bags. Grain set under bags is a measure of the selffertility of a plant. Pollinating bags are placed over the panicle priorto the initiation of flowering and remain in place until seed set can bedetermined, generally three weeks or more after flowering has beencompleted. At that time a percentage rating of seed set is made. Thiscan range from 0% (indicating the plant is pollen sterile) to 100%(indicating full pollen fertility). Intermediate ratings can indicatevarying levels of partial fertility.

Grain Weathering Resistance. Grain weathering resistance refers to avisual rating of how well the exposed grains in the sorghum head areable to retain normal seed quality when exposed to normal weatherhazards and surface molds.

Greenbug Resistance. Greenbug resistance refers to a visual rating of avarieties resistance to one or more biotypes of the greenbug insectpest. Resistance to a particular biotype is indicated by “E” (Biotype E)and/or “I” (Biotype I).

Head Smut Resistance. Head smut resistance refers to a visual rating ofa variety's resistance to this fungal disease that infects sorghumplants. The rating is based on the percentage of smut-infected plants.

Height Uniformity. Height uniformity is a rating of the uniformity ofthe height of all of the main heads and tillers for a variety.

Leaf Attitude. Leaf attitude refers to an indicator of the attitude ofthe leaves with reference to the stalk, where “E” indicates erect (leafangle [panicle to leaf axil to leaf midrib] less than about 45 degrees),“SE” indicates semi-erect (leaf angle of about 45-80 degrees), and “H”indicates horizontal (leaf angle of about 80 degrees or greater).

Leaf Color Intensity. The leaf color intensity is described as the colorintensity from very light to very dark.

Leaf Length and Width. Leaf length and width is measured by selectingthe largest leaf, after flowering, on a representative sample of plantsand measuring the maximum length and width in inches. Generally, thiswill be a leaf towards the middle of the plant.

Leaf Number. Leaf number is measured by counting the total number ofleaves on the plant after flowering. Some of the first leaves may havedeteriorated by that time, so an estimate can be made.

Locus. A locus is the specific location of a gene or DNA sequence on achromosome.

Maturity. The maturity of a variety is measured as the number of daysbetween planting and physiological maturity.

Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus (MDMV). MDMV refers to a visual rating of avariety's resistance to the Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus, type “A.”

Mid-Rib Color. Mid-rib color can be described as white, cloudy,intermediate, or brown. White indicates a dry mid-rib and stalk, whilecloudy indicates that they are juicy. Brown indicates the presence of amutant allele that conditions for a reduced amount of lignin in theplant.

Panicle Appearance Rating. Panicle Appearance Rating is a rating of theoverall panicle appearance that includes panicle type, panicle length,panicle diameter, grain color, grain color intensity, grain weathering,seed size, glume size, presence or absence of panicle diseases (i.e.fusarium head blight), and other criteria that may be important for agiven environment.

Panicle Branch Attitude. Panicle branch attitude is an indicator of theattitude of the panicle branch with reference to the stalk, where “E”indicates erect (panicle branch angle [central rachis to panicle branchaxil to panicle branch] less than about 45 degrees), “SE” indicatessemi-erect (panicle branch angle of about 45-80 degrees), and “H”indicates horizontal (panicle branch angle of about 80 degrees orgreater).

Panicle Blasting Percent. Panicle blasting percent is the percentage offlorets in a panicle aborted by a sorghum plant. This data is usuallyrecorded on cytoplasmic male sterile lines and is influenced by genotypeand environment. Presence of this condition is a deleterious trait forcommercial seed production.

Panicle Branch Length. Panicle Branch Length is measured by selectingpanicle branches from the middle of the panicle, which are generally thelongest, and measuring the length in inches.

Panicle Diameter. Panicle Branch Diameter is a measurement, in inches,of the largest part of the panicle at the stage when grain is fullymature.

Panicle (or Head) Exsertion. Panicle (or Head) Exsertion is a 1 to 9rating representing the length of the peduncle exposed between the baseof the panicle (head) and the flag leaf of the plant. A high scoreindicates more distance between the flag leaf and the sorghum head,while a low score indicates a short distance between the two.

Panicle Length. Panicle length is the length of the panicle, in inches,from the attachment point of the lowest branch to the tip of theuppermost branch in its normal orientation.

Panicle (or Head) Type. Panicle (or Head) Type is an indicator of themorphology of a sorghum plant's head (panicle), where “0” indicates anopen panicle characterized by either more distance between the paniclebranches or longer panicle branches; “SO” indicates a less open panicle;“SC” indicates a semi-compact panicle caused by shorter panicle branchesarranged more closely on the central rachis; and “C” indicates a verycompact panicle caused by very short panicle branches arranged tightlyon the central rachis.

Panicle Shape. Panicle shape is an indicator of the shape of a sorghumplant's head (panicle), where “C” indicates cylindrical, “E” indicateselliptical, “0” indicates oval, and “R” indicates round.

Plant. As used herein, the term plant includes reference to an immatureor mature whole plant, including a plant from which seed or grain oranthers have been removed.

Plant Color. Plant color results from the presence or absence ofanthocyanin pigments in the stalks and other organs of sorghum plants.The type and degree of coloration is determined by genotype and issomewhat subject to growing conditions, but varieties typically showvarying degrees of coloration ranging from: absent (tan plant) to verystrong (deep purple coloration). Ratings generally are tan, red, orpurple.

Plant Height. Plant height refers to the average height of the plant atthe end of flowering, assuming the plant is not lodged. This varies fromvariety to variety and although it can be influenced by environment,relative comparisons between varieties grown side by side are useful forvariety identification. Plant height is measured in inches, from theground to the tip of the panicle.

Plant Parts. As used herein, the term plant parts (or “sorghum plant, ora part thereof”) includes, but is not limited to, protoplasts, leaves,stalks, roots, root tips, anthers, stigmas, panicles, seeds, grains,embryos, pollen, ovules, flowers, shoots, tissue, cells, andmeristematic cells.

Pollen Shed Rating. Pollen shed rating is a visual rating made duringflowering indicating the amount of pollen shed, on a scale of 1 to 9,where 1 indicates heavy pollen shed and 9 indicates no pollen shed.

Pre-Flower Stress Tolerance. Pre-flower stress tolerance is a visualrating of the stress tolerance of a sorghum plant before flowering.Symptoms that indicate poor pre-flower stress tolerance include poorpanicle exertion, delayed panicle development, panicle exsertion, andflowering, and in extreme cases, abortion of the panicle.

Post-Flower Stress Tolerance. Post-flower stress tolerance is a ratingof the stress tolerance of a sorghum plant after flowering. Symptomsthat indicate poor post-flower stress tolerance include varying degreesof senescence of leaves starting with the lower leaves, pre-dispositionand infection by stalk rot organisms such as Charcoal Rot (Macrophominaphaseolina), and varying degrees of stalk lodging.

Post-Freeze Standability. Post-freeze standability is a rating of thestandability of a sorghum plant after a freeze.

Regeneration. Regeneration refers to the development of a plant fromtissue culture.

Relative Maturity. Relative maturity (RM) for a variety is based on thepredicted number of days required for an inbred line or hybrid to reachthe blooming stage from the time of planting. The RM rating is relativeto a set of known check varieties and is determined using standardlinear regression analysis.

Resistance to Lodging. Resistance to lodging is a visual rating(relative to check varieties) of a variety's ability to stand up in thefield under high yield conditions and severe environmental factors. Avariety can have good (remains upright), fair, or poor (falls over)resistance to lodging. The degree of resistance to lodging is notexpressed under all conditions but is most meaningful when there is somedegree of lodging in a field trial.

Root Lodging. Root lodging is the percentage of lodged plants of avariety caused by an inadequate root support system. If the stem of theplant leans at an angle of approximately 30 degrees or more fromvertical, the plant is considered to be root lodged.

Seed Coat Color. The color of the seed coat can be variety-specific andcan be red, brown, white, or yellow for inbred lines. For hybrids, theseed coat color may also be cream (from a white×yellow cross) and bronze(from a red×yellow cross).

Seeds per Pound. Seeds per pound refers to the number of seeds per poundof grain for a representative sample.

Seedling Vigor. Seedling vigor is a visual rating of the amount ofvegetative growth. The rating is usually taken when the average entry inthe trial is at the two- to three-leaf stage.

Selection Index. The selection index provides a single measure of avariety's performance based on a composite of multiple traits. A sorghumbreeder may utilize his or her own set of traits for the selectionindex. Two of the traits usually included are yield and days to flower(relative maturity). The selection index data presented herein representthe mean values averaged across testing locations.

Single Gene Converted (Conversion). Single gene conversion or a singlegene converted plant refers to plants that are developed bybackcrossing, genetic engineering, or mutation, wherein essentially allof the physiological and morphological characteristics of a variety arerecovered, in addition to the single gene transferred into the varietyvia the backcrossing technique, genetic engineering, or mutation.

Sorghum Midge Resistance. Sorghum Midge Resistance refers to a visualrating of a variety's resistance to sorghum midge, an insect pest thataffects seed set by infecting the head.

Stalk Lodging. Stalk lodging refers to the percentage of lodged plantsof a variety caused by stalks breaking above the ground due to naturalcauses.

Staygreen. Staygreen refers to a visual rating of a variety's ability toretain green leaf tissue. Ratings are most valuable in the presence ofheat and/or drought stress during the grain fill period.

Testweight. Testweight is a measure of the weight (in pounds) of thegrain harvested from a variety for a given volume (bushel), adjusted toa standard grain moisture content.

Threshability. Threshability refers to a visual rating (relative tocheck varieties) of the tendency of the seed of a variety to thresh freefrom the glumes.

Tillering. Tillering is a measure of the development of shoots from budsat the base of the main stem. This can be expressed as a visual rating(on a scale of 1 to 9, with 1 being a high degree of tillering and 9being no tillering. This can also be expressed as an actual number oftillers per plant.

Tissue Culture. Tissue culture encompasses all cultural techniques inwhich a composition comprising embryonic issues, tissue fragments,calli, isolated cells or protoplasts of the same or a different type, ora collection of such cells are organized into a culture for theregeneration of functional plants or plant parts.

Yield. This term refers to the actual yield (measured in pounds peracre) of the grain harvested from a unit area for a variety, adjusted toa standard 13% grain moisture content.

Yield Under Stress. Yield under stress is a rating of the yield of grainharvested from a unit area when such unit area is under stress, forexample, from drought or heat. This can be determined by comparing thepoints where regression lines intersect the y axis for different hybridswhen yield for the individual hybrids is regressed against the averageyield for all hybrids in the tests. A high value for y axis interceptindicates a drought and stress tolerant hybrid whereas a low valueindicates poor drought and stress tolerance.

Reference now will be made in detail to the embodiments of theinvention, one or more examples of which are set forth below. Eachexample is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not alimitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be madein the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit ofthe invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as partof one embodiment, can be used on another embodiment to yield a stillfurther embodiment.

Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers suchmodifications and variations as come within the scope of the appendedclaims and their equivalents. Other objects, features and aspects of thepresent invention are disclosed in or are obvious from the followingdetailed description. It is to be understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art that the present discussion is a description of exemplaryembodiments only, and is not intended as limiting the broader aspects ofthe present invention.

Sorghum plants (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) have both male (anthers)and female (stigma) reproductive parts located in the same flower in thepanicle. Natural pollination occurs in sorghum when anthers shed pollenand pollen falls onto receptive stigmata. Because of the close proximityof the anthers and stigmata in the panicle, the rate of self-pollinationis very high (average 94%).

In an embodiment, the present invention relates to a sorghum plant ofthe variety designated GSV864306. The inbred sorghum plant varietydesignated GSV864306 was derived from an initial cross between the lines221R and 219. The origin and breeding history of the sorghum varietydesignated GSV864306 can be summarized as follows:

Summer 2005 at Lubbock, Tex. The inbred line 221 (a proprietary MonsantoCompany breeding line) was crossed onto the inbred line 219 (aproprietary Monsanto Company breeding line) using a wet pollenemasculation in nursery rows B 1927×B 1960 respectively, to produce anF₁.

Winter 2005 in San Juan de Abajo, Mexico. The F₁ was grown and selfedusing open pollination in nursery block BI2 Range 25 Column 56 toproduce F₂ seed.

Summer 2006 at Bishop, Tex. The F₂ was grown in the F₂ Nursery Range 52Column 3, it was self-pollinated, using open pollination and F₃selection number 6 was harvested. In this and in subsequent selectionopportunities yield, stalk quality, root quality, disease tolerance,insect tolerance, plant height, head exsertion, and stress tolerancewere some of the criteria used to determine which plants were selected.

Summer 2007 at Bishop, Tex. The F₃ was grown in the F₃ Nursery Range 105Column 58, it was self-pollinated using open pollination, and F₄selection number 2 was harvested.

Summer 2007 at Bishop, Tex. The F₄ was grown in Nursery RBSMUT Range 14Column 43, it was self-pollinated using open pollination and the F₅selection was harvested.

Summer 2009 Ganado, Tex. The F₅ was grown in nursery BLK20 Range 2003Column 24, it was self-pollinated using open pollination, and the F₆selection was harvested.

Winter 2009 Villa Hidalgo, Mexico. The F₆ was grown in Nursery VH2 Range30 Column 35, it was self-pollinated, and the F₇ selection number 4 washarvested. The line was coded at this point with the pedigree of44_GSV864306.

Summer 2010 at Bishop, Tex. The F₇ was grown in nursery Block 14 Range1413 Column 36, it was self-pollinated, and the F₈ selection number 3was harvested.

Winter 2010 at Villa Hidalgo, Mexico. The F₈ was grown in Nursery BlockVH1 Range 10 Column 109, it was self-pollinated, and the F₉ selectionnumber 2 was harvested.

Summer 2011 at Bishop, Tex. The F₉ was grown in Nursery BLK14 Range 1404Column 31, it was self-pollinated, and the F₁₀ selection number 2 washarvested.

Summer 2012 at Bishop, Tex. The F₁₀ was grown in Nursery Block 4 Range428 Column 40, it was self-pollinated, and the F₁₁ selection number 2was harvested.

Winter 2012 at El Tizate, Mexico. The F₁₁ was grown in Nursery ET3 Range304 Column 30, it was self-pollinated, and the F₁₂ selection washarvested. The line was finished at this point with the pedigree ofGSV864306.

Summer 2013 at Bishop, Tex. The F₁₂ was grown in Nursery Block 4 Range409 Column 39, it was self-pollinated, and the F₁₃ selection washarvested.

Winter 2013 at El Tizate, Mexico. The F₁₃ was grown in Nursery Block ET5Range 5002 Column 6, it was self-pollinated and sufficient bulk seed wasgenerated to plant a seedstock increase and a pilot hybrid productionblock in 2014 at Dumas, Tex.

In an embodiment, the invention relates to sorghum plants having all oressentially all of the physiological and morphological characteristicsof the inbred sorghum variety GSV864306. In an embodiment, thephysiological and morphological characteristics of the inbred sorghumvariety are set forth in Table 1. Sorghum variety GSV864306 has shownacceptable levels of uniformity and stability, within the limits ofenvironmental influence, for the traits described in Table 1. Sorghumvariety GSV864306 has been self-pollinated and head-rowed a sufficientnumber of generations to ensure homozygosity and phenotypic stability.In certain categories of variety description information, GSV864306 hasbeen compared to sorghum varieties TX2737 and OK11.

TABLE 1 Physiological and Morphological Characteristics for SorghumVariety GSV864306 and Comparative Check Varieties VALUE** CHARACTERISTICGSV864306 TX2737 OK11 1.A. STALK Plant Height (in.) 41.1 51.3 43.7 HeadExsertion (rating) 3.8 4.7 3.7 Anthocyanin Presence No Yes Yes Tillering(rating) 6.0 5.7 5.0 1.B. LEAF Color Medium Medium Dark Medium LightLength (in.) 26.2 25.0 24.5 Width (in.) 2.9 2.5 3.0 No. per Stalk. 12 1112 Mid Rib Color (e.g. cloudy) Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Color Pattern (e.g.solid) Solid Solid Solid Attitude Horizontal E SE 1.C. HEAD Panicle TypeSC SC SO Panicle Shape Oval C E Panicle Length (in.) 10.9 12.5 12.0Panicle Branch Attitude E E SE Panicle Branch Length (in.) 2.9 2.25 3.0Grain Set Under Bags >95% >95% 0%* Panicle Blasting Percent    0%    0%3%* Pollen Shed (rating) 1.0 2.7 9.0* 1.D. GRAIN Glume Color Tan TanPurple Awns (e.g. present or absent) Absent Absent Absent Seeds perPound 17,672 15,564 12,720 Grain Color Yellow Yellow White Test Weight(lbs per bu) 59.9 60.1 59.1 Endosperm Color Yellow White White EndospermTexture Intermediate Vitreous Intermediate Threshability (rating) 4 2 3Grain Weathering Resistance (rating) 6 4 4 1.E. DISEASE TOLERANCE DownyMildew-pathotype 1 (rating) 9.0 9.0 9.0 Downy Mildew-pathotype 3(rating) 9.0 9.0 9.0 Downy Mildew-pathotype 6 (rating) 9.0 9.0 9.0 MaizeDwarf Mosaic Virus “A” na Na na (rating) Head Smut-Race 1 (rating) 2.04.0 5.0 Charcoal Rot (rating) 3.0 3.0 2.0 Fusarium Head Blight (rating)3.0 4.0 6.0 1.F. INSECT RESISTANCE Greenbug Biotype E (rating) na Na naGreenbug Biotype I (rating) na Na na Chinch Bug (rating) na Na naSorghum Midge (rating) 9.0 9.0 9.0 1.G. PLANT GROWTH Seedling Vigor(rating) 5.5 5.0 6.3 Plant Color Tan Purple Purple Staygreen (rating)3.0 3.0 2.0 Height Uniformity (rating) 1.5 3.3 2.7 Root Lodging (rating)4.0 3.0 3.0 Pre-Flower Stress Tolerance (rating) 3.0 2.0 3.0 Post-FlowerStress Tolerance (rating) 2.0 3.0 2.0 Post-Freeze Standability (rating)2.0 3.0 3.0 Yield Under Stress (rating) 2.0 2.0 3.0 Chemical BurnResistance (rating) na na na Bloom 10% 67 70.8 82.0 Bloom 50% 69 73.784.2 Bloom 90% 72 76.5 86.8 Agronomic Rating 3.5 2.8 3.3 **These aretypical values. Values may vary due to environment.

In an embodiment, the sorghum plants of the invention are inbred. InbredGSV864306 sorghum plants can be produced by planting the seeds of theinbred sorghum plant designated GSV864306 and growing the resultingsorghum plants under self-pollinating or sib-pollinating conditions withadequate isolation, using standard techniques well known to an artisanskilled in the agricultural arts.

In a particular embodiment, the present invention provides a method ofproducing an inbred sorghum plant derived from the sorghum varietydesignated GSV864306, the method comprising the steps of: (a) preparinga progeny plant derived from sorghum variety GSV864306, wherein saidpreparing comprises crossing a plant of the sorghum variety GSV864306with a second sorghum plant; (b) crossing the progeny plant with itselfor a second plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequentgeneration; (c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation fromsaid seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation and crossing theprogeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a second plant;and (d) repeating the steps for an additional 3 to 10 generations toproduce an inbred sorghum plant derived from the sorghum varietyGSV864306. In the method, it may be desirable to select particularplants resulting from step (c) for continued crossing according to steps(b) and (c). By selecting plants having one or more desirable traits, aninbred sorghum plant derived from the sorghum variety GSV864306 may beobtained which possesses some or essentially all of the desirable traitsof sorghum variety GSV864306 as well as potentially other selectedtraits. In a particular embodiment, the invention comprises an eliteGSV864306 sorghum parent plant or line.

In yet another embodiment, the invention is directed to parts of asorghum plant of variety GSV864306. Any part of the GSV864306 sorghumplant is contemplated in this embodiment. In an embodiment, the plantpart may comprise pollen obtained from a sorghum plant of varietyGSV864306. In still another embodiment, the invention comprises seed ofthe GSV864306 sorghum plant. Seeds can be harvested from a GSV864306plant using standard, well-known procedures.

In an embodiment, the seeds are inbred GSV864306 seeds. Inbred sorghumseed of the invention may be provided as an essentially homogeneouspopulation of inbred sorghum seed of the variety designated GSV864306.Essentially homogeneous populations of inbred seed may be free fromsubstantial numbers of seeds that are significantly different on agenetic basis. In an embodiment of the present invention, inbred seedmay form greater than about 97% of the total seed. In an embodiment, thepopulation of inbred sorghum seed of the invention may be essentiallyfree from hybrid seed. In some embodiments, the inbred seed populationmay be grown separately from any hybrid population to provide anessentially homogeneous population of inbred sorghum plants designatedGSV864306.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, a tissue culture ofregenerable cells of a plant of the variety designated GSV864306 isprovided. The regenerable cells in such tissue cultures may be derivedfrom embryos, meristematic cells, microspores, pollen, anthers, stigma,flowers, leaves, stalks, roots, root tips, seeds, or from callus orprotoplasts derived from those tissues. Means for preparing andmaintaining plant tissue cultures are well known in the art.

In an embodiment, the tissue culture may be capable of regeneratingplants capable of expressing all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of the GSV864306 variety, and of regenerating plantshaving substantially the same genotype as other plants of the GSV864306variety. Still further, the present invention provides sorghum plantsregenerated from the tissue cultures of the invention, the plants havingall of the physiological and morphological characteristics of thevariety designated GSV864306.

In a particular embodiment, the invention relates to a sorghum hybridcontaining the sorghum variety GSV864306. A sorghum hybrid is the crossof two inbred lines, each of which may have one or more desirablecharacteristics lacked by the other and/or which complement the other.As used herein, crossing can include selfing, backcrossing, crossing toanother or the same inbred, crossing to populations, and the like.

In an embodiment, the sorghum plants can be crossed by either natural ormechanical techniques. Natural pollination occurs in sorghum when windblows pollen from the anthers to receptive stigmata on the same oranother plant. Mechanical pollination can be effected either bycontrolling the types of pollen that can blow onto the receptivestigmata or by pollinating by hand. These techniques are well known inthe art.

Because sorghum is normally a self-pollinated plant and because bothmale and female flowers are in the same panicle, a cytoplasmic malesterile (CMS) inbred may be used to produce large quantities of hybridseed. Cytoplasmic-male sterility is a pollen abortion phenomenondetermined by the interaction between the genes in the cytoplasm and thenucleus. Alteration in the mitochondrial genome and the lack of restorergenes in the nucleus will lead to pollen abortion. With either a normalcytoplasm or the presence of restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, the plantwill produce pollen normally. A CMS plant can be pollinated by amaintainer version of the same variety, which has a normal cytoplasm butlacks the restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, and will continue to be malesterile in the next generation. The male fertility of a CMS plant can berestored in the subsequent generation by crossing it with a plant thatcontains the restorer gene(s) in the nucleus. With the restorer gene(s)in the nucleus, the offspring of the male-sterile plant can producenormal pollen grains and propagate. Thus, in a hybrid seed productionsystem, flowers of a CMS inbred (non-restorer female parent) may befertilized with pollen from a fertile inbred (restorer male parent)carrying genes which restore male fertility in the hybrid (F₁) progeny.

The development of a sorghum hybrid, in an embodiment, may involve thefollowing steps: (1) the formation of “restorer” and “non-restorer”germplasm pools; (2) the selection of superior plants from various“restorer” and “non-restorer” germplasm pools; (3) the selfing of thesuperior plants for one or more generations to produce a series ofinbred lines, which although different from each other, breed true andare highly uniform; (4) the conversion of inbred lines classified asfemales or non-restorers to CMS forms; and (5) crossing the selected CMSfemale inbred lines with selected fertile male inbred lines to producethe hybrid progeny (F₁).

In another embodiment, the development of a sorghum hybrid may involvethe steps of: (1) planting in pollinating proximity seeds of a first andsecond parent sorghum plant (the first and second plant may be distinctinbred plants); (2) cultivating or growing the seeds of the first andsecond parent sorghum plants into plants that bear flowers; (3)emasculating the flowers of either the first or second parent sorghumplant, i.e. physically removing the anthers from the florets prior toblooming of the flowers so as to prevent pollen production or preventingdehiscence of pollen from anthers by introduction and maintenance of ahigh humidity environment by bagging a panicle or portion of a paniclewith a plastic bag prior to blooming (a “wet pollination emasculation”)or by using as the female parent a male sterile plant, thereby providingan emasculated parent sorghum plant; (4) allowing naturalcross-pollination to occur between the first and second parent sorghumplants or mechanically moving pollen from the pollen parent to thepollen sterile seed parent; (5) harvesting seeds produced on theemasculated parent sorghum plant; and, where desired, (6) growing theharvested seed into a sorghum plant, which may be a hybrid sorghumplant.

In one embodiment, the sorghum hybrid containing the variety GSV864306is a single cross hybrid. A single cross sorghum hybrid is the cross oftwo inbred plants, each of which has a genotype that complements thegenotype of the other. In this embodiment, the F₁ hybrid may be morevigorous than its inbred parents. This hybrid vigor, or heterosis, maybe manifested in many polygenic traits, including markedly improvedyields, better stalks, better roots, better uniformity and better insectand disease resistance.

In an embodiment of the invention, either the first or second parentsorghum plants can be from variety GSV864306. Thus, any sorghum plantproduced using sorghum plant GSV864306 forms a part of the invention. Inan embodiment, the parent sorghum plants may be of different varieties.In still another embodiment, the invention comprises an elite hybridcontaining the GSV864306 sorghum plant or line.

Sorghum lines are known to those of skill in the art, any one of whichcould be crossed with sorghum plant GSV864306 to produce a hybrid plant.An example of an F₁ hybrid which has been produced with GSV864306 as aparent is the hybrid sorghum variety designated Hybrid 2. An objectivedescription of this hybrid is presented in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2 Physiological and Morphological Characteristics of a SorghumHybrid Having Sorghum Variety G5V864306 as One Parent CHARACTERISTICVALUE 1. STALK Plant Height (in.) 48.7 Tillering (rating) 3 HeadExsertion (rating) 3 Plant Color Purple 2. LEAF Length (in.) 25.3 Width(in.) 3.1 Midrib Color Cloudy Leaf Attitude SE 3. PANICLE Length (in.)9.8 Panicle Branch Length (in.) 3.3 Anther Color Yellow Glume ColorMahogany Panicle Type Intermediate Panicle Diameter (in.) 2.7 Awns(present or absent) Absent Panicle Appearance (rating) 6.0 4. GRAINEndosperm Texture Intermediate Endosperm Color White Grain Color BronzeColor Intensity (rating) 6.0 Seeds Per Pound 22,200

Examples of comparative data for Sorghum Hybrid 2 are set forth in Table3, which presents a comparison of performance data for a hybrid madewith GSV864306 as one parent, versus selected commercial hybrids. Allthe data in Table 3 represents results across years and locations forresearch and/or strip trials.

TABLE 3 Comparative Data for Sorghum Hybrid 2, a Hybrid Having GSV864306as One Inbred Parent HYBRID YLD MST STL RTL BLM UNI AGR PHT TWT THRHybrid 2 6,221 13.3 1 3 59 3 4.0 53 61.1 1.8 Dekalb DKS37-07 5,537 13.11 1 58 3 3.9 51 60.2 4.2 Differential 684 0.2 −0.2 2.0 1.0 0.5 0.1 2.20.9 −2.4 Significance Level ** ** NS ** ** * ** ** ** ** Hybrid 2 5,81313.1 1 4 61 3 4.1 53 61.2 1.9 Asgrow_Pulsar 4,860 13.0 1 2 59 4 4.6 4959.0 4.0 Differential 953 0.1 −0.2 2.6 1.5 −0.8 −0.6 3.5 2.2 −2.1Significance Level. ** ** NS ** ** * ** ** ** ** Hybrid 2 6,982 13.9 1 159 3 4.1 53 61.1 1.7 Channel 6B13 6,299 14.2 3 1 60 4 4.6 53 60.0 2.6Differential 683 −0.3 −1.6 0.1 −0.5 −0.7 −0.5 −0.2 0.2 −0.9 SignificanceLevel ** ** ** NS ** ** ** NS * ** Significance levels are indicatedas: + = 10%, * = 5%, ** = 1% Rating Scale: 1 = excellent; 9 = poor.

ABBREVIATIONS LEGEND Abbreviation Meaning AGR Agronomic Rating BLM Bloom50% FNSC Final Stand Count (actual count) GSB Grain Set under Bags MSTMoisture at harvest (%) NA Not Available NS Not Significant PHT PlantHeight (inches) PSR Pollen Shed Rating UNI Plant Uniformity Rating RTLRoot Lodging (%) SGR Staygreen Rating SI Selection Index (% of check)STL Stock Lodging (%) SVR Seedling Vigor Rating THR Threshability RatingTWT Test Weight (pounds) YLD Yield (bushels/acre)

Another aspect of the invention is a sorghum plant of sorghum varietyGSV864306 further comprising a single locus conversion. In oneembodiment, the sorghum plant is defined as comprising the single locusconversion and otherwise capable of expressing all of the physiologicaland morphological characteristics of the sorghum variety GSV864306. Inanother embodiment of the invention, a plant of sorghum varietydesignated GSV864306 comprising an added heritable trait is provided.The heritable trait may comprise a genetic locus that is a dominant orrecessive allele. When introduced through transformation, a geneticlocus may comprise one or more transgenes integrated at a singlechromosomal location. In specific embodiments of the invention, an addedgenetic locus confers one or more additional traits. The traitsconferred may include, but are not limited to, male sterility, malefertility, herbicide tolerance or resistance, insect tolerance orresistance, disease tolerance or resistance, fungal tolerance orresistance, waxy starch, enhanced nutritional quality, modified phyticacid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism and modified proteinmetabolism.

In an embodiment, the trait may be cytoplasmically-inherited and may bepassed to progeny through the female parent in a particular cross. Anexemplary cytoplasmically-inherited trait is the male sterility trait. Acytoplasmically-inherited trait may be a naturally-occurring sorghumtrait or a trait introduced through genetic transformation techniques.

In other embodiments, the trait may be conferred by anaturally-occurring sorghum gene introduced into the genome of thevariety designated GSV864306 by backcrossing, a natural or inducedmutation, or a transgene introduced through genetic transformationtechniques. If backcrossing is used in an embodiment, essentially all ofthe physiological and morphological characteristics of a variety may berecovered in addition to a genetic locus transferred into the plant viathe backcrossing technique.

In a backcross procedure, the parental sorghum plant which contributesthe locus or loci for the desired trait is typically termed thenon-recurrent or donor parent. This terminology refers to the fact thatthe non-recurrent parent is used one time in the backcross protocol and,therefore, does not reoccur.

The parental sorghum plant to which the locus or loci from thenon-recurrent parent are transferred is known as the recurrent parent,as it is used for several rounds in the backcrossing protocol. In atypical backcross protocol, the original parent of interest (recurrentparent) is crossed to a second variety (non-recurrent parent) thatcarries the genetic locus of interest to be transferred. The resultingprogeny from this cross are then crossed again to the recurrent parentand the process is repeated until a sorghum plant is obtained whereinessentially all of the desired physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of the recurrent parent are recovered in the convertedplant, in addition to the transferred locus from the non-recurrentparent. The backcross process may be accelerated by the use of geneticmarkers, such as single sequence repeat (SSR), restriction fragmentlength polymorphism (RFLP), single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) oramplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers to identify plantswith the greatest genetic complement from the recurrent parent.

The selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for asuccessful backcrossing procedure. The choice of the particularnon-recurrent parent will depend on the purpose of the backcross. One ofthe major purposes is to add commercially desirable, agronomicallyimportant traits to the plant. The exact backcrossing protocol willdepend on the characteristic or trait being altered to determine anappropriate testing protocol. Although backcrossing methods aresimplified when the characteristic being transferred is a dominantallele, a recessive allele may also be transferred. In this instance itmay be necessary to introduce a test of the progeny to determine whichprogeny carry the desired allele.

As part of the invention, direct selection may be applied where agenetic locus acts as a dominant trait. An example of a dominant traitmay be a herbicide resistance trait, which, in some cases, is inheritedin a dominant fashion. For this selection process, the progeny of theinitial cross may be sprayed with the herbicide prior to thebackcrossing. The spraying eliminates any plants which do not have thedesired herbicide resistance characteristic, and only those plants thathave the herbicide resistance gene are used in the subsequent backcross.This process is then repeated for all additional backcross generations.

It will be understood by those of skill in the art that a transgene neednot be directly transformed into a GSV864306 plant, as techniques forthe production of stably transformed sorghum plants that pass singleloci to progeny by Mendelian inheritance are known in the art. Such locimay, therefore, be passed from parent plant to progeny plants bystandard plant breeding techniques that are well known in the art.Examples of traits that may be introduced into a sorghum plant ofvariety GSV864306 according to the invention are provided herein below.

Methods for transformation of sorghum plants are well known in the art.Included among the various known plant transformation techniques aremethods that permit the site-specific modification of a plant genome,including coding sequences, regulatory elements, non-coding and otherDNA sequences in a plant genome. Such methods are well-known in the artand include, for example, use of the CRISPR-Cas system, zinc-fingernucleases (ZFNs), and transcription activator-like effector nucleases(TALENs), among others.

Plant transformation may involve in one embodiment the construction ofan expression vector which will function in plant cells. Such a vectorcan comprise DNA comprising a gene under control of, or operativelylinked to, a regulatory element (for example, a promoter). Theexpression vector may contain one or more such operably linkedgene/regulatory element combinations. The vector(s) may be in the formof a plasmid and can be used alone or in combination with other plasmidsto provide transformed plants using known transformation methods toincorporate transgenes into the genetic material of the plant(s).

A. Male Sterility

In an embodiment, a male sterility trait is introduced into a sorghumplant. Any gene conferring male sterility may be utilized in thisembodiment. In a particular embodiment, the male sterility gene may beherbicide-inducible. Male sterility genes may increase the efficiencywith which hybrids are made, in that they eliminate the need tophysically emasculate the sorghum plant used as a female in a givencross.

Where the employment of male-sterility systems is desired with a sorghumplant in accordance with the invention, it may be beneficial to alsoutilize one or more male-fertility restorer genes. For example, whereCMS is used, hybrid seed production requires three inbred lines: (1) aCMS female parent line having a CMS cytoplasm and possessing no restorergenes (also known as an “A” line); (2) a fertile inbred with normalcytoplasm that possesses no restorer genes, which is isogenic with theCMS line for nuclear genes (also known as a “maintainer line” or “Bline”); and (3) a distinct, fertile, male parent line with normalcytoplasm, carrying fertility restorer genes (also known as the“restorer line” or “R line”). The CMS female parent line is propagatedby pollination with the maintainer line, with all of the progeny beingmale sterile, as the CMS cytoplasm is derived from the female parent.These male sterile plants can then be employed as the female parent inhybrid crosses with the male restorer parent, without the need forphysical emasculation of the male reproductive parts of the femaleparent.

The presence of a male-fertility restorer gene in the male parentresults in the production of fully fertile F₁ hybrid progeny. If norestorer gene is present in the male parent, male-sterile hybrids areobtained. Such hybrids are useful where the vegetative tissue of thesorghum plant is utilized, e.g., for silage, but in most cases, theseeds will be deemed the most valuable portion of the crop. In thesecases, fertility of the hybrids in these crops must be restored.Therefore, one aspect of the current invention concerns plants of thesorghum variety GSV864306 comprising a genetic locus capable ofrestoring male fertility in an otherwise male-sterile plant. Examples ofmale-sterility genes and corresponding restorers which could be employedwith the plants of the invention are known to those of skill in the artof plant breeding.

B. Herbicide Resistance or Tolerance

In an embodiment, a herbicide resistance or tolerance trait isintroduced into a sorghum plant of variety GSV864306. Any geneconferring herbicide resistance or tolerance may be utilized in thisembodiment. In an embodiment, the herbicide resistance or tolerance isfor imidazolinone herbicides, sulfonylurea herbicides, triazineherbicides, phenoxy herbicides, cyclohexanedione herbicides,benzonitrile herbicides, 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-inhibitingherbicides, protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicides,acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides,1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid-inhibiting herbicides, bromoxynil,nicosulfuron, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), dicamba,quizalofop-p-ethyl, glyphosate, or glufosinate. Numerous herbicideresistance genes are known and may be employed with the invention.

C. Waxy Starch

In an embodiment, a waxy starch trait is introduced into a sorghum plantof variety GSV864306. Any gene conferring waxy starch characteristicsmay be utilized in this embodiment. The waxy characteristic is anexample of a recessive trait. In this example, the progeny resultingfrom the first backcross generation (BC1) may be grown and selfed. Atest may then be run on the selfed seed from the BC1 plant to determinewhich BC1 plants carried the recessive gene for the waxy trait.

D. Disease Resistance or Tolerance

In an embodiment, a disease resistance or tolerance trait is introducedinto a sorghum plant of variety GSV864306. Any gene conferring diseaseresistance or tolerance may be utilized in this embodiment. In anembodiment, the gene may confer disease resistance to downy mildew,pathotypes 1, 3, or 6; maize dwarf mosaic virus “A”; head smut, race 1;charcoal rot; or fusarium head blight. In an embodiment, the disease maybe a viral disease.

E. Insect Resistance or Tolerance

In an embodiment, an insect resistance or tolerance trait is introducedinto a sorghum plant of GSV864306. Any gene conferring insect resistanceor tolerance may be utilized in this embodiment. In an embodiment, suchgene may confer resistance to greenbug, biotype C, E, or I; chinch bug;or sorghum midge.

F. Modified Phytate and Carbohydrate Metabolism

In an embodiment, a trait that confers modified phytate or carbohydratemetabolism is introduced into a sorghum plant of GSV864306. Any geneconferring modified phytate or carbohydrate metabolism may be utilizedin this embodiment. For example, phytate metabolism may be modified byintroduction of a phytase-encoding gene to enhance breakdown of phytate,adding more free phosphate to the transformed plant. A number of genesthat may be used to alter carbohydrate metabolism are well known in theart.

G. Origin and Breeding History of an Exemplary Introduced Trait

GSV548413 A is a conversion of GSV548413 to cytoplasmic male sterility.GSV548413 A was derived using backcross methods. GSV548413 (aproprietary inbred of Monsanto Company) was used as the recurrent parentand GSV160919, a germplasm source carrying A1 cytoplasmic sterility, wasused as the non-recurrent parent. The breeding history of the convertedinbred GSV548413 A can be summarized as follows:

Plainview, TX Made up MSCO: Female row 03 10 41 41 Nurseries 2003TXPLROY_00047_00029; Male row 03 10 41 41 TXPLROY_00013_00033 Plainview,TX MSCO was grown and plants selected for recurrent Nurseries 2004parent type were backcrossed by GSV548413 B (rows 04 05 41 41TXLUNURA_00039_00077 X 04 05 41 41 TXLUNURA_00039_00078) Plainview, TXMSC1 was grown and plants selected for recurrent Nurseries 2005 parenttype were backcrossed by GSV548413 B (rows 05 05 41 41TXLUNURA_00023_00092 X 05 05 41 41 TXLUNURA_00023_00093) Mt. Hope, KSMSC2 was grown and plants selected for recurrent Nurseries 2007 parenttype were backcrossed by G5V548413B (rows 07 04 92 92 KSMH3B_00010_00017X 07 04 92 92 KSMH3B_00010_00018) San Juan de MSC3 was grown and plantsselected for recurrent Abajo, MX parent type were backcrossed byG5V548413B Nurseries (rows 07 12 92 92 JAPV3_00037_00023 X 07 122007-2008 92 92 JAPV3_00037_00024) Mt. Hope, KS MSC4 was grown andplants selected for recurrent Nurseries 2008 parent type werebackcrossed by G5V548413B (rows 08 04 92 92 KSMH4A_00063_00027 X 08 0492 92 KSMH4A_00063_00028) San Juan de MSC5 was grown and plants selectedfor recurrent Abajo, MX parent type were backcrossed by G5V548413BNurseries (rows 08 12 92 92 JAPV2A_00046_00001 X 08 12 2008-2009 92 92JAPV2A_00046_00002) Mt. Hope, KS MSC6 was grown and plants were bulkcrossed by Nurseries 2009 G5V548413B to generate approximately one poundof seed (rows 09 04 92 92 KSMH1_00017_00001 X 09 04 92 92KSMH1_00017_00002) Villa Hidalgo, MSC7 was grown and plants were bulkcrossed by MX Nurseries G5V548413B to generate approximately 30 pounds2009-2010 of seed for pilot and seedstock production in 2010 (rows 09 1292 92 JAPVBLK1_00027_00057 to 09 12 92 92 JAPVBLK1_00027_00062 and 09 1292 92 JAPVBLK1_00028_00037 to 09 12 92 92 JAPVBLK1_00028_00060 in pairedrows)H. Illustrative Procedures for Introduction of a Desired Trait

As described above, techniques for the production of sorghum plants withadded traits are known in the art. An example of such a procedure forpreparation of a sorghum plant of GSV864306 comprising an added trait isas follows:

-   -   (a) crossing sorghum plant GSV864306 to a second (non-recurrent)        sorghum plant comprising a locus to be converted in sorghum        plant GSV864306;    -   (b) selecting at least a first progeny plant resulting from the        crossing and comprising the locus;    -   (c) crossing the selected progeny to sorghum plant GSV864306;        and    -   (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until a plant of variety        GSV864306 is obtained comprising the locus.

Following these steps, essentially any locus may be introduced intosorghum variety GSV864306. For example, molecular techniques allowintroduction of any given locus, without the need for phenotypicscreening of progeny during the backcrossing steps. Polymerase chainreaction (PCR) and Southern hybridization are two examples of moleculartechniques that may be used for confirmation of the presence of a givenlocus and thus conversion of that locus.

The present invention additionally provides, in an embodiment, processesof preparing sorghum plant of variety GSV864306. In accordance with suchan embodiment, a first parent sorghum plant may be crossed with a secondparent sorghum plant wherein at least one of the first and secondsorghum plants is the inbred sorghum plant GSV864306. One application ofthe process is in the production of F₁ hybrid plants. Another importantaspect of this process is that it can be used for the development ofnovel inbred lines. For example, the inbred sorghum plant GSV864306could be crossed to any second plant and the resulting hybrid progenyeach selfed for about 5 to 7 or more generations, thereby providing alarge number of distinct, pure-breeding inbred lines. These inbred linescould then be crossed with other inbred or non-inbred lines and theresulting hybrid progeny analyzed for beneficial characteristics. Inthis way, novel inbred lines conferring desirable characteristics couldbe identified. After at least five or more generations, the inbred plantis typically considered genetically pure. Thus, in an embodiment, theinvention comprises genetically pure inbred lines produced from theinbred sorghum plant GSV864306.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the genetic complement ofthe sorghum plant variety designated GSV864306 is provided. A geneticcomplement represents the genetic makeup of an inbred cell, tissue orplant. A hybrid genetic complement represents the genetic makeup of ahybrid cell, tissue or plant. The invention thus provides sorghum plantcells that have a genetic complement in accordance with the inbredsorghum plant cells disclosed herein, and plants, seeds and diploidplants containing such cells.

In still another embodiment, the present invention provides hybridgenetic complements, as represented by sorghum plant cells, tissues,plants, and seeds, formed by the combination of a haploid geneticcomplement of an inbred sorghum plant of the invention with a haploidgenetic complement of a second sorghum plant, which may be another,distinct inbred sorghum plant. In another aspect, the present inventionprovides a sorghum plant regenerated from a tissue culture thatcomprises a hybrid genetic complement of this invention.

Plant genetic complements may be assessed by genetic marker profiles,and by the expression of phenotypic traits that are characteristic ofthe expression of the genetic complement, e.g., isozyme typing profiles.It is understood that the sorghum variety designated GSV864306 could beidentified by any of the many known techniques such as, for example,Simple Sequence Length Polymorphisms, Randomly Amplified PolymorphicDNAs, DNA Amplification Fingerprinting, Sequence Characterized AmplifiedRegions, Arbitrary Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction, AFLPs, and SNPs.

A genetic marker profile of an inbred may be predictive of the agronomictraits of a hybrid produced using that inbred. For example, if an inbredof known genetic marker profile and phenotype is crossed with a secondinbred of known genetic marker profile and phenotype it is possible topredict the phenotype of the F₁ hybrid based on the combined geneticmarker profiles of the parent inbreds. Methods for prediction of hybridperformance from genetic marker data are known in the art. Suchpredictions may be made using any suitable genetic marker, for example,SSRs, RFLPs, AFLPs, SNPs, or isozymes.

SSRs are genetic markers based on polymorphisms in repeated nucleotidesequences, such as microsatellites. A marker system based on SSRs can behighly informative in linkage analysis relative to other marker systemsin that multiple alleles may be present. Another advantage of this typeof marker is that, through use of flanking primers, detection of SSRscan be achieved, for example, by PCR, thereby eliminating the need forlabor-intensive Southern hybridization. PCR detection is conducted usingtwo oligonucleotide primers flanking the polymorphic segment ofrepetitive DNA. Repeated cycles of heat denaturation of the DNA followedby annealing of the primers to their complementary sequences at lowtemperatures, and extension of the annealed primers with DNA polymerase,comprise the major part of the methodology. Following amplification,markers can be scored by gel electrophoresis of the amplificationproducts. Scoring of marker genotype is based on the size (number ofbase pairs) of the amplified segment.

In another embodiment of the invention, the method relates to theproduction of a sorghum plant of GSV864306 product. The sorghum plantproduct may be selected from the group consisting of starch, syrup,protein, or any other product known in the art to be made from sorghumplants or plant parts.

A deposit was made of at least 2500 seeds of sorghum variety GSV864306with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801 UniversityBoulevard, Manassas, Va. 20110-2209 USA. The deposit was assigned ATCCAccession No. PTA-125100. The date of deposit of the seeds with the ATCCwas May 4, 2018. The deposit will be maintained in the ATCC depositoryfor a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recent request, orfor the enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will bereplaced if necessary during that period. Upon issuance, allrestrictions on the availability to the public of the deposit will beirrevocably removed consistent with all of the requirements of theBudapest Treaty and 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.801-1.809. Applicant does not waiveany infringement of rights granted under this patent or under the PlantVariety Protection Act (7 USC 2321 et seq.).

All references cited in this specification, including withoutlimitation, all papers, publications, patents, patent applications,presentations, texts, reports, manuscripts, brochures, books, internetpostings, journal articles, and/or periodicals are hereby incorporatedby reference into this specification in their entireties. The discussionof the references herein is intended merely to summarize the assertionsmade by their authors and no admission is made that any referenceconstitutes prior art. Applicants reserve the right to challenge theaccuracy and pertinence of the cited references.

These and other modifications and variations to the present inventionmay be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention, which ismore particularly set forth in the appended claims. In addition, itshould be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may beinterchanged in whole or in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way ofexample only, and is not intended to limit the invention so furtherdescribed in such appended claims. Therefore, the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims should not be limited to the description of theversions contained therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A plant of sorghum variety GSV864306, whereinrepresentative seed of sorghum variety GSV864306 has been depositedunder ATCC Accession No. PTA-125100.
 2. A plant part of the plant ofclaim
 1. 3. The plant part of claim 2, further defined as pollen, anovule, or a cell.
 4. A seed of sorghum variety GSV864306, whereinrepresentative seed of sorghum variety GSV864306 has been depositedunder ATCC Accession No. PTA-125100.
 5. The seed of claim 4, furthercomprising a transgene, wherein the transgene was introduced intosorghum variety GSV864306 by backcrossing or genetic transformation. 6.A composition comprising the seed of claim 4 comprised in plant seedgrowth media, wherein representative seed of sorghum variety GSV864306has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-125100.
 7. Thecomposition of claim 6, wherein the growth media is soil or a syntheticcultivation medium.
 8. An F1 hybrid seed produced by crossing a plant ofsorghum variety GSV864306 according to claim 1 with a second, distinctsorghum plant.
 9. The F1 hybrid seed of claim 8, wherein said plant ofsorghum variety GSV864306 further comprises a transgene that isinherited by the seed, wherein the transgene was introduced into sorghumvariety GSV864306 by backcrossing or genetic transformation.
 10. An F1hybrid plant grown from the seed of claim
 8. 11. A plant of sorghumvariety GSV864306 further comprising a single locus conversion, whereinsaid plant otherwise comprises all of the morphological andphysiological characteristics of sorghum variety GSV864306 when grownunder the same environmental conditions, and wherein representative seedof sorghum variety GSV864306 has been deposited under ATCC Accession No.PTA-125100.
 12. The plant of claim 11, wherein the single locusconversion comprises a transgene.
 13. A seed that produces the plant ofclaim
 11. 14. The seed of claim 13, wherein the single locus confers atrait selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicidetolerance, insect or pest resistance, disease resistance, modified fattyacid metabolism, abiotic stress resistance, altered seed amino acidcomposition, site-specific genetic recombination, and modifiedcarbohydrate metabolism.
 15. The seed of claim 14, wherein the herbicidetolerance trait confers tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides,sulfonylurea herbicides, triazine herbicides, phenoxy herbicides,cyclohexanedione herbicides, benzonitrile herbicides,4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-inhibiting herbicides,protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicides, acetolactatesynthase-inhibiting herbicides, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylicacid-inhibiting herbicides, bromoxynil, nicosulfuron,2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), dicamba, quizalofop-p-ethyl,glyphosate, or glufosinate.
 16. A method of producing a progeny sorghumplant, said method comprising applying plant breeding techniques to theplant of claim 1 or an F1 hybrid thereof to yield said progeny sorghumplant.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plant breeding techniquescomprise backcrossing, marker assisted breeding, pedigree breeding,selfing, outcrossing, haploid production, doubled haploid production, ortransformation.
 18. The method of claim 16, further defined ascomprising: (a) crossing the plant of claim 1 or an F1 hybrid thereofwith itself or a second plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of asubsequent generation; (b) growing a progeny plant of a subsequentgeneration from said seed and crossing the progeny plant of a subsequentgeneration with itself or a second plant; and (c) repeating steps (a)and (b) with sufficient inbreeding until an inbred sorghum plant isproduced.
 19. A method of producing a commodity plant product, saidmethod comprising obtaining the plant of claim 1 or a part thereof andproducing said commodity plant product therefrom.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, wherein the commodity plant product is grain, starch, seedoil, sorghum syrup, or protein.